Tena koutou whanau ma – warm greeting so everyone

This being my final newsletter to you as Principal, I want to take the liberty to share some deeper thoughts.

Thank you whanau, for the warm outpouring of love to me and to my family on Monday. I really did feel blessed and loved and I am so grateful to you all. In my korero at the end I shared how God had shown me how to embrace the blessing, because in the flesh, it is very humbling to experience such warmth. I think there is a valuable lesson in this for all of us and I will try and explain myself a little further here.

The Father’s essential attribute is Love – and we have been created in His image, and therefore this essential attribute is in our original design. He has designed and made us to be instruments, or vessels of His love (and in fact He commands us to love Him with all of our being). The father loves the Son intensely and has created each and every one of us to be a unique expression of His love for Jesus. The Son loves the Father with a perfect love (John 14:31 (ESV) but I do as the Father has commanded me, so that the world may know that I love the Father…).

Taking it a step further, to the believer, God has given His spirit to dwell in us –  this is the great mystery that Jesus clarified to His disciples, recorded in chapter 17 of the book of John, and particularly in verse 26 where Jesus prays to the Father that the same love that the Father has for the Son may be in us. We are invited into the flow of love between the Father and the Son through the Spirit of God – love in union, eternally.

When our lives are unified with Christ it is no longer “I” but “We” (Galatians 2:20) and it is in this unity that we can receive the love of God, flowing through His children to the Christ in us, in which He receives the Glory. It was in this way that I was able to stand and receive the blessing of love poured out, knowing two things – One, I am not worthy of it, and 2, but the Christ in me is

For a deeper understanding of this I encourage you all to go deeper into the Word. I can also highly recommend material written by Geoff (Jeff) Woodcock – https://onewithchrist.org/product-category/books/ Geoff has visited the school several times and has been a great encourager for people to step into their design of love.

My encouragement for us all is to step deeper into the intense love that the Father has for us, recognising that He already loves us perfectly and that He wants us to receive and be part of all that He has for us. Love God, love one another.

May the grace of our Lord, Jesus Christ, the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all 2 Cor:13-14

Blessings to all